"The Cold Winds are Rising"

Character Summary – Khal Drogo

For each day of the month of March, we will post an article on one of the characters from the series, A Game of Thrones, as we count down to the premiere of the 2nd Season of the series. Today we will post 4 characters for you, starting with Khal Drogo.

A Dothraki chieftain, he was quite a foreboding figure, a stark contrast to his light skinned, white-haired wife, Daenerys Targaryen, to whom he married in an trade agreement to provide Daenerys’ brother with ten thousand of his warriors.

Image by AzjaLadyOfForest

Despite his hardened temperament in public, he turned into a gentle giant during his private times with his wife, at least after Daenerys’ change of heart, which seemed excusable in the beginning of their union. Although he was kind-hearted to his wife, so much so that he gifted her with a beautiful white/silver mare, he was not so with her brother, killing him unmercilessly by pouring molten gold over his head (I couldn’t even watch it, although I could hear it).

Khal Drogo died in a most unhonorable way, as far as the Dothraki way is concerned. After killing a rival leader, he received a wound on his chest. Even after being treated for the wound, his stubborness got the better of him and he took off the bandage, causing his wound to worsen. He fell off his horse, which was a sign that he was no longer able to lead his warriors.

He ended up living in exchange for his unborn son’s death by a maegi’s power, but he came back catatonic. Daenerys ended up smothering him to death, knowing that he shouldn’t be left to live that way.

This is not one of my favorite characters in the book, but he’s definitely would scare me into liking him if he made me. Considering I’monly 5’2″, he could crush me with a slap of his hand, I think. Same as he could his own wife.

Image by jbsc

Khal Drogo was played by Jason Momoa. Jason seemed to fit the role perfectly, as if he himself was a descendant of the Dothraki race. I definitely liked him much better here than in the awfully-made Conan the Barbarian movie, for which he played the title role. Maybe it’s because Jason’s role is part of an ensemble and thus didn’t rely on him to carry the show on his shoulders alone.

4 responses to “Character Summary – Khal Drogo”

Drogo and Daenerys became my favorite part of the entire show, and I thought they had a sweetness to their relationship. When he would call her, “Moon of my life” it was hard not to swoon.

The most amusing part of this character page is the comment about the Conan movie. Calling the new version of it awful when compared with the original with the crap acting of Ahhnold, Mr. Caleeeeforneeea himself, is absurd. I grew up with the original and while I enjoyed it, I recognized the awful acting and complete departure from that which it was based on. The new version was more tribute to the books, and Jason Momoa fit the role as Conan in a way that Arnold never could. I recently bought the movie, I saw it in the theater, and I even paid extra to see it in 3d. Almost all of the people that I have spoken to that criticized the newest Conan movie didn’t even watch it, but were judging it because they assumed it was a remake. Hopefully the opinion above was from someone that actually watched the entire movie.

I did watch the new version, which is an amusing story in itself. Plus I watched the original Conan movie with Arnold. I actually didn’t say that I liked the original more than the new one. The one thing I remember about the original was that I kept laughing to myself the fact that Conan’s teeth were so white, him being a barbarian and all. I’m afraid they were probably both equally bad, I just remember this newer one more given its more recent viewing, one that I do not wish to repeat.

However, I have not read the book, so I can’t compare the faithfulness of its adaptation. I leave that to you, and I’m glad you enjoyed it.